GREEK shipping tycoons, who operate the world's biggest merchant fleets, have long argued that if they are taxed, they will leave Greece - and their departure would devastate the economy.
But a Reuters analysis of corporate filings and economic data suggests shipping's heroic role in Greece's economy is largely a myth.
Despite this, Hong Kong, Singapore, London have sent delegations to lure unhappy shipowners away, though Cyprus leads the pack with 42 shipowners having joined the Cypriot Registry thus far.
"Don't forget, the best minister of shipping is the minister who does nothing for shipping. He is the one who is leaves us alone," one shipowner told former shipping minister Kostis Moussouroulis.
Shipping is said to contribute US$9 billion, or four per cent, of Greek GDP. Related trades supposedly cause the figure to rise to 7.5 per cent, or $17 billion a year. Deep-sea shipping and related trades employ 192,000 people, four per cent of whom are Greek.
As international lenders bail out Greece, they also urge Athens tax more. But shipowners have resisted and no government dares to touch them, Reuters reports.
"Shipping is a pillar of the Greek economy," says the Union of Greek Shipowners, the ocean-going industry's main association.
But because Greek shipowners include in their dollars that do not enter the Greek economy. If Greece counted only payments to Greeks - as other nations do - the shipping industry's contribution would be cut to one per cent of GDP, said Reuters.
For Greece, the cost of the tax breaks granted to shipowners runs into hundreds of millions of euros. Though that is small compared with the country's debt, plenty of other citizens have had to tighten their belts.
The country has cut jobless benefits by one-fifth, and health spending by a tenth, between 2009 and 2012 in exchange for bailouts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The nation's farmers have seen their tax breaks axed and Greece has raised taxes on high earners. Shipping magnates, on the other hand, have their exemptions written into the constitution.
"The shipowners get the media to write what they want," said former finance minister George Papaconstantinou. "And when you start touching them you hear: 'We are seven per cent of the economy we bring 17 billion every year, 200,000 jobs'."
Said Mr Papaconstantinou: "That's not the case."
Syriza, the governing party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, promised to end the industry's tax allowances. But while he said changes are possible, the government is reluctant to advocate anything that would damage shipping groups.
"What is very important for us is maintaining the competitiveness of Greek shipping," said Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas.
The industry says government tax revenues from Greek shipping have increased more than eightfold since the outbreak of the economic crisis.
Greek shipowners have long argued that their industry is too special to tax. World War II, when the cash-strapped government wanted to tax shipping companies, owners responded by moving their vessels to tax havens like Panama.
It's not clear how many jobs the industry generates. In 2012, official ELSTAT said 5,100 Greeks were employed on Greek-flagged deep-sea vessels. Industry-backed studies add about 6,000 Greek sailors on foreign-flagged ships, and around 15,000 jobs onshore.
On top of that, they assume the industry generates over 100,000 more jobs indirectly.
Singapore's Splash24/7 reports that delegations from Hong Kong, Singapore, London and others have flown to Athens in recent months to lure these disaffected owners away.
The most successful appears to be Cyprus with 42 Greek shipping firms have emigrated to Cyprus and entered the island republic's commercial registers, according Limassol Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Costas Galatariotis.
The Central Bank of Cyprus said revenues from shipping were up 9.3 per cent EUR464 million (US$491.5 million) year on year in the first six months of the year.
The Cypriot government is now readying a bill which would exempt the children of shipowners who relocate to Cyprus from military service.
Shipowners in Greece, who account for roughly one in six merchant ships around the world, are increasingly concerned that the government will raise taxes.
WORLD SHIPPING
02 December 2015 - 23:09
Reuters probe: Greek shipowners avoid tax by inflating their GDP contribution
GREEK shipping tycoons, who operate the world's biggest merchant fleets, have long argued that if they are taxed, they will leave Greece - and their departure would devastate the economy.
WORLD SHIPPING
02 December 2015 - 23:09
Reuters probe: Greek shipowners avoid tax by inflating their GDP contribution
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